Budgeting is a headache, but in a world of economic uncertainty, it’s an increasingly crucial task for many U.S. households. According to a 2024 analysis from the Bank of America Institute, about 25% of U.S. homes live paycheck-to-paycheck.
Creating a budget will look different for everyone, and no matter what your income looks like, it’s a wise undertaking. Budget apps simplify the process by helping you track your spending, reach financial goals, and even grow your savings.
What is the best budgeting app right now?
Based on our testing, You Need a Budget is the best budgeting app for most people, thanks to its long free trial period, loan calculator, and compatibility with most banks. Read on to see our other top picks and how they can help you budget in this economy.
The best budgeting apps of 2025
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As one of the most popular budgeting apps, You Need a Budget (YNAB) makes easy work of real-time expense tracking thanks to the ability to link your bank accounts. The app teaches you to exercise “spendfulness,” or aligning your money with what matters most to you.
The ad-free app includes data encryption, two-factor authentication, and syncs across devices to further put your mind at ease. You can also try YNAB Together to share your subscription with families or roommates for no extra cost.
YNAB only offers paid subscriptions, but you can take advantage of the 34-day free trial to get a feel for the app. to use it, as there is no free version of the app. YNAB costs $15 per month or $109 annually.
Free version: No | Free trial: 34 days | Cost: $15 per month or $109 annually | Google Play rating: 4.7 | Apple App Store rating: 4.8 | Trust Pilot rating: 4.7
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Rocket Money is a free budget app that tracks subscriptions and bills and helps you identify potential savings in your recurrent expenses for free. It lets users link accounts and flags subscriptions for you, making it easy to cancel the ones you no longer need. The Rocket Money app also reminds you of due bills to prevent late payments and features a spending tracker for financial budgeting.
The Rocket Money also offers a premium tier with more features like bill negotiation, a subscription cancelation assistant, access to financial experts, and more.
According to the company, subscribers pay between $6 and $12 per month.
Free version: Yes | Free trial: Seven days | Cost: $6-$12 per month, sliding scale | Google Play rating: 4.6 | Apple App Store rating: 4.4 | Trust Pilot rating: 4.1
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Goodbudget strips down the bells and whistles of a traditional budgeting app in favor of a straightforward approach that multiple household members can see and manage.
Goodbudget has you allocate funds into digital envelopes, just like you’d put physical cash into paper envelopes. The budget can be set according to the user’s individual needs and how often income comes in, and the user categorizes different expenses and sets a budget for each one.
For example, if we typically spend $180 on gas monthly, I create a $200 digital envelope in Goodbudget labeled Gas, to account for any pricing fluctuations. Whatever isn’t used, I can “sweep” into savings or debt repayment.
Goodbudget’s free version offers up to 20 envelopes, debt tracking, community support, and remembers one year of your financial history. One account supports two devices.
The app’s premium version costs $10 per month or $80 annually. It offers automatic bank syncing, debt tracking, email support, unlimited envelopes and accounts, supports five devices, and keeps up to seven years of history.
Free version: Yes | Free trial: No | Cost: $10 per month or $80 annually | Google Play rating: 3.7 | Apple App Store rating: 4.6 | Trust Pilot rating: 3.7
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Honeydue is a free app that is specifically designed for two people managing budgets together. This is helpful for couples and young families building a shared financial picture.
Like other budgeting apps, you and your partner can link your bank accounts for real-time expense tracking. Honeydue also has an in-app chat to discuss finances. There’s also the option to open a joint bank account with a debit card that features no monthly fees or minimum deposit requirements.
Honeydue supports more than 5,000 banks, keeps your data encrypted in storage and in transit, and support security features like passcodes, touch ID, and multi-factor authentication.
Free version: Yes | Free trial: No | Cost: Free | Google Play rating: 4.2 | Apple App Store rating: 4.5 | Trust Pilot rating: 3.2
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Utilizing smart algorithms to manage and track spending, PocketGuard takes a modern approach to budgeting.
The app lets you create a multi-category budget with limits, set financial goals and debt payoff plans, manage pending and automatic transactions, as well as monitor your bills and provides due date reminders. In addition, the In My Pocket feature automatically calculates monthly expenses and then notifies you of any leftover funds.
PocketGuard also has a built-in anti-fraud feature helps to keep track and alerts you of suspicious spending trends.
After a 7-day free trial, you’ll pay $13 per month or $75 annually to continue using the app. Pocketguard makes its money via subscriptions, so it’s ad-free and doesn’t sell your data.
Free version: No | Free trial: Seven days | Cost: $13 per month or $75 annually | Google Play rating: 4.5 | Apple App Store rating: 4.6 | Trust Pilot rating: 4.3
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You Need a Budget (YNAB) is our pick for the best budgeting app because it combines many features and is easy to use. As everyone’s budget needs are different, it may not be the best one for you. Here’s how the apps we looked into stack up:
| Budgeting app | ZDNET’s take | Cost | App Store Rating | Google Play Rating |
| You Need a Budget (YNAB) | Best budget app overall | $15 per month | 4.8 | 4.7 |
| Rocket Money | Best free budget app | Free or $6-$12 per month | 4.4 | 4.6 |
| Goodbudget | Best for the envelope method | Free or $10 per month | 4.6 | 3.7 |
| Honeydue | Best for couples | Free with ads | 4.5 | 4.2 |
| PocketGuard | Best for overspenders | $13 per month or $75 annually | 4.6 | 4.5 |
The right budget app for you will depend on what you want to accomplish with your finances. Most budgeting apps have features track spending, monitor bills, and provide insights, but some are more detailed and involved.
| Choose this budget app… | If you… |
| You need a budget (YNAB) | Are committed to creating and achieving your ideal financial budget. The service also offers a 34-day free trial. |
| Rocket Money | Want a free, or more affordable budget app. Rocket Money can handle bill negotiations and weed out subscriptions you don’t use anymore. |
| Goodbudget | Prefer budgeting using the old-school envelope method. You can sync your budget(s) across multiple users and devices. |
| Honeydue | Would like to include your partner in your financial planning. Track expenses together and message in-app to discuss spending. |
| PocketGuard | Want to track your spending. It has a debt payoff plan to get you back on track. |
Choosing the best budget apps on this list involved a lot of testing and creating many accounts in different apps to compare their features and test their performance. Here are some ways you can narrow down your choices to decide which is best for you:
- Financial needs: Consider not only your individual financial needs but also the goals you want to achieve. Do you want to track daily expenses? Build an emergency fund or grow your savings? Are you trying to cut expenses and pay down debt? These are all things you should consider, as they will shape how you use your budgeting app.
- Ease of use: It’s worth testing out different options to determine which user interface you prefer. I’ve been a committed budgeter for years, yet I don’t like using the apps that link my bank account, so I prefer apps like Goodbudget, even if I don’t use the envelope method in real life. I also like the data that PocketGuard offers, so I have a visual picture of my spending habits.
- Fees: Budgeting apps often charge a fee for their services, whether it is an upfront fee, an ongoing monthly or annual fee. Be sure to review all fees in advance.
A budget app is a mobile service that gives you insights into your finances by tracking your spending, set savings goals, pay bills on time, and more. You can typically sync your accounts to view a complete financial portrait, all within a single app.
A budget app only works if you use it regularly, but it also helps to have a clear idea of what you want to use the app for. Many apps offer financial tools and resources that can help you reduce your debt and expand your financial worth by providing insight reports into expenses.
Are there alternative budget apps worth considering?
